Tag Archives: literacy

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Gold Award Girl Scout: Madison Seckman, Centennial, “Your Level Reading”

What did you do for your Gold Award project?

My Girl Scout Gold Award is a website created Your Level Reading that is intended to demonstrate ratings for teachers, parents, and students to know if the material is appropriate for their own or others’ reading level and age. In particular, some parents feel they are not informed enough about material their children are reading and are sometimes unsettled by this. Using the website created in this project, parents can simply look up the title of the book their child is reading and see its maturity. Likewise, the project addressed students – middle schoolers in majority – who may feel uncomfortable reading certain material. They too can look up the book title or author to prepare themselves for what may be in that novel. The website also benefits teachers because they can decide on appropriate reading material when choosing novels.

How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?

My audience now has an understanding of book ratings for four, distinct age groups. Teachers, parents, and students learned that they can use the website as a resource to prepare themselves for books. I measured the impact using Google Analytics to count how many views my website gathered in one month; I wanted 20 views. Another measurement was having 15 volunteers read and rate books for my project in order to involve the National Honor Society community in my project as much as possible. In order to spread the word, I needed one Girl Scout troop to commit to my website as a resource for a minimum of one year. I measured the website Analytics after one month to see the website view count. To measure the amount of volunteers, I held Zoom meetings and kept track of each person who attended the training and rated at least one book – one volunteer read seven books. Once the website was running, I sent the link for the website to my Girl Scout service unit and waited for a response from a troop saying they would use the website as a resource. My goals were to have 15 student volunteers, 20 views on my website in one month, create an accessible and easy to use website, involve the National English Honor Society (NEHS) in the sustainment of the project, and gain commitment from one Girl Scout troop to use the website as a resource for one year. To measure the ease-of-use of the website, Chuck Blish, a formal information technology worker, helped me look over and format the website. NEHS agreed to maintain my project by directing student volunteers to the website where they can fill out a Google Form to rate books. The commitment from the Girl Scout troop (Troop 63227) was written in an email.

How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?

The National English Honor Society (NEHS) at Cherry Creek High School (CCHS) plans to help sustain my project for at least one year by sending volunteers to read books through the viewers rate books option on the website. The rubric is available on the Google Form for them to look at while they fill in information for a variety of questions. They are required to enter the author’s first and last name, title of the book, overall age range, and levels for all categories of profanity thorough drugs/alcohol/smoking that are in the rubric. It is very simple and straightforward, so anyone can use it, even middle school students. As NEHS keeps adding books onto the website, viewers will be able to access a wider variety of books that have been rated. In addition, it will help with subjectivity in ratings since more than one person may rate one book.

Also, Keats Community Library in London, England is going to promote the website. I sent them an email asking for their help in the global connection and sustainability of my project, and they were extremely interested in my project. It was very exciting because many libraries are reluctant to introduce a rating system to their members due to the prospect of creating banned books. Thankfully, Keats Community Library was excited to endorse my project and agreed to publish the link to my website for their members to see. I am going to send them a few poster designs over email for the website for them to print out and put up on their library walls once they are open to the public again.

Lastly, Girl Scout Troop 63227 has promised to use the website as a resource. The members of the troop are going to use the website to look up book titles for upcoming literature in their school’s curriculums. Furthermore, I informed them that they can add ratings to the website if the book they are planning to read is currently unrated. That way, the next student who needs to read that book can see a rating left by a previous reader of that book. The troop can search for new books to read based on their appropriate age range. For girls who are 11-years-old, they can use the “young” books filter to find an arrangement of books that are appropriate for their reading level.

What is your project’s global and/or national connection?

I wrote to Keats Community Library in London, England to promote my website and the importance of age appropriate reading material in a different country. They plan to present my website to their library members by mentioning it in a newsletter, and I sent them poster designs that they can print and put up in the library once they are open to the public again. Also, I will have the help of the Cherry Creek High School (CCHS) National English Honor Society (NEHS) to promote and continue the project among their volunteers across the nation. The head coordinators at CCHS of NEHS are going to send the link for the website to their eager volunteers, so they can rate books and keep the project thriving. On the website, the volunteers can find buttons saying, “Take action! Rate your own books” or a tab on the homepage that says, “Rate your own books”. It is a simple, easy to use Google Forms Survey that anyone on the website can fill out. The responses automatically transfer onto a google sheet that is on the website – under the tab, “Other viewers’ book ratings”.

What did you learn about yourself?

Through this project I learned that I can be an exemplary leader and strive to succeed when I put my mind to it. Ever since I began Girl Scouts eight years ago, I have learned many leadership skills. I can speak up for my beliefs and make genuine changes in my community. One of my beliefs is books have the potential to be inappropriate; and currently, there are no large organizations that create a warning system, or rating, for those books. So, I took initiative and put my leadership skills to good use. I worked hard and finished this project that I knew would make a difference. By seeking to make a change, I discovered that I do have what it takes to be a leader and put a plan into action. The hardest thing was discovering my perseverance. It was a very long road to finish this project, but a very rewarding one. At one point, when the website was not working, and I had no idea how to write the code, I came to a brick wall. I actually considered quitting the entire project and switching to a new one. But, as they say, when the door closes, a window opens. My Girl Scout mentor gave me the contact for a previous Girl Scout, Delaney Fitzsimmons, who introduced me to a different way of creating the website. I needed to persevere and keep my head up for this project in order to finish it. So, I switched my focus and strove to succeed at a different kind of website making. After switching over to Google Sites, I created a beautiful website and kept up my hard work on the project all the way until I finished it.

How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?

I hope that the leadership skills I learned from my Gold Award will help me in my future. The leadership skills I apprehended from my project were ambition, perseverance, boldness, optimism, and compassion. My project was founded on my ambition to succeed and lead a team of willing and able volunteers to self and team success. I harnessed my ambition to create this project out of passion for reading and understanding for the unpleasant experience of non-appropriate material. I pushed myself to persevere when training my volunteers because of my social anxiety. Often, I find myself getting shaken up at the idea of public speaking, but I put that behind my and stood up to the task of leading my volunteers to success. In order to persevere, I had to be bold and put my fears to the test. I cannot say the first training session went 100 percent smoothly because it simply did not. But, the more I practiced and put myself in front of the amiable volunteers, the more confident and bold I became until I was able to speak and train them with excellence and excitement. The whole time throughout the project, I maintained my optimism that I would succeed; that I would achieve my goal of manifesting a searchable database for many people to exploit. At the end, I was compassionate towards everyone who existed as a part of my team. I know I could not have done it without them. Each person who took the time to listen to and help me made my project materialize into the amazing resource that it thrives as now. All of these skills will help me in the future with any profession I may choose, working with a team on projects, and to simply be a helpful and involved person in my communities. I hope that all of the great work I demonstrated in my project will assist me in my college admissions process. The requirement officers will see the dedication, excellence, and leadership that I demonstrated in this project, and hopefully be more inclined to invite me into their college.

Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?

For anyone considering if they should complete their Gold Award, I say go for it. I have been a Girl Scout for the past eight years, and never before have I had the opportunity to experience something as great as the Gold Award. The Gold Award showed me that I can do whatever I set my mind to, even if it seems impossible. I never could have predicted that I would make an entire, functioning, and searchable website, and I know I could not have done it without the Gold Award behind me. It is truly a once in a lifetime experience that taught me many skills and built on the skills I already have. Most of my time in Girl Scouts was spent camping or earning badges, but to have the honor of working on my Gold Award was by far the best thing that I ever did as a Girl Scout. It simply made me feel important and worthy of wearing the Girl Scout title.

How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)?

Earning my Gold Award helped me become a G.I.R.L, and more specifically, an innovator because I had to use more creativity than I have ever used before in my life. Ever since I was little, I have loved to create. This project helped me bring that to the next level. Not only did I have to be creative by coming up with the project to begin with, – book rating levels are not exactly common – I had to keep the dearivity going throughout the entire time I worked on it. I had a lot of struggles and obstacles in my Girl Scout project: having too many books and not an equal amount of volunteers, not knowing how to code using HTML, and many other things. Nonetheless, everytime I hit a brick wall, I looked for another approach. I completely innovated the website using a template I found on Google Sites after the HTML coding came to a stop, and I can say that I crushed it. It took me many hours to make the website clean and professional, but I did it. This project helped me expand on my ability to innovate and demonstrate my creativity.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication, and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org.

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Once Upon a Time

Submitted by Barbara Light

Metro Denver

Aurora

As we are starting to move forward and try meeting in person again, Cadette Troop 71 from Aurora took a field trip to Denver Bookbinding Co. to help earn our Book Artist badge. Denver Bookbinding Co. is a woman-run business that has been in Colorado for five generations. They were able to explain a great amount of history, and we got to handle some very old books and tools from the past.

We learned about how they preserve and restore books and also how they create new books. We then got to create our own journals, so we can begin to write our own stories.

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Gold Award Girl Scout: Lauren Butler, Colorado Springs, “Book Donation Pipeline”

What did you do for your Gold Award project?

A lot of schools have library books and textbooks that they are throwing away because a lot of schools are switching to digital libraries and e-textbooks. The books that they are throwing away are in good condition and could still be used by a lot of people with restricted access to internet resources. So, my project was to get these books from the schools and get them to places where they will be read.

How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?

I collected more than 3,000 books and donated them to multiple places.

How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?

My project is sustainable because I got Pine Creek High School’s National Honor Society (NHS) on board and they will be continuing my project. I also submitted my project to the NHS database, so other high schools with National Honor Societies could replicate my project.

What is your project’s global and/or national connection?

I donated the books out of the city, out of the state, and out of the country. Besides that, by submitting my project to the NHS database hopefully other schools will try my project in their communities.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned that I am not great at email communication. Because of COVID-19, the majority of the communication for my project was over email. I know the basics of how to communicate over email, but it was definitely hard when that was all I had to rely on for most of my communication.

How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?

I am hoping that with my Gold Award I can get into a good college and get good scholarships. Besides that, I think it helped me figure out how to network with people and get the books to the right places. Also, I think just putting yourself out there.

Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?

I think the Gold Award was an important part of my Girl Scout experience because I got to work with so many other people. In Girl Scouts, there are events where you see other troops, but other than that, I don’t meet a lot of other Girl Scouts, especially not very many around my age. With getting my Gold Award, I met a lot of new people and council members that I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t gotten my Gold Award.

How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)? 

I definitely had to be innovative when earning my Gold Award. Especially because of the pandemic, there were a lot of places that wouldn’t take books and people who wouldn’t respond to my emails. Trying to think of new ideas of where books should go. Like thinking of the prison system, nursing homes, homeschooling communities, these were all places that I hadn’t really considered until starting my project and realizing that if I wanted to actually finish my project, I was going to have to do a lot more thinking outside of the box to get these books to schools.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication, and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org.

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Cadette Book Club: Ghosts, Spells, and Spirits- Just in Time for Halloween

Things are getting spooky in the town of St. Augustine. Our leading lady, 12-year-old Lucely Luna has completely accidentally, conjured malevolent forces forth from an old spell book. With the help of her best friend Syd, Grandma Babette, and Chunk the Cat, Lucely must try to save the town before time runs out. Fans of “Ghostbusters,” “Goonies,” and “Coco” will love this frightfully fun adventure. Sensitive readers beware, there are some scary sections.

Join Girl Scouts of Colorado staff on October 8, 2020 at 4 p.m. for Cadette Book Club as we discuss “Ghost Squad” by Claribel Ortega. Please read the book in its entirety before the book club and come prepared with your brilliant thoughts, poignant questions, and outstanding opinions.

Register Here: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/events-repository/2020/october_2020_cadette.html

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Gold Award Girl Scout: Alex Lanucha, Divide, “City Above the Clouds Satellite Library”

What did you do for your project?

In my small community of Divide, the elementary schools have started to see preschoolers starting school lacking the six early literacy skills. These skills are said to be the starting base of what kids need to make them successful readers. A group of reading experts have determined that these six literacy skills are the building blocks for later success in reading and writing. Researchers have explained that kids who enter school with more of these skills better understood the information they receive in school. These skills include vocabulary; knowing the names of things; print motivation; a child’s interest in and enjoyment of a book, print awareness; learning that writing in English follows basic rules, narrative skills; being able to tell and understand a story, letter knowledge; learning that letters have names and are different from each other, and phonological awareness; the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in smaller words. With my satellite library, I hope to get kids interested in reading again and choose a book over a device. In hopes of this happening, there are many people who benefit from it. The schools benefit from the kids that come in knowing and/or having exposure to these key literacy skills. The parents benefit, having their kids get a jump start in school, and being eager about reading. But most importantly, kids benefit the most. They now have something that they love and no longer have to potentially struggle with school and feel like they are behind their peers. They will have the confidence to succeed in school and develop a life-long love of reading.

How did you measure the impact your project made on your target audience?

To measure the impact my project has made on the kids, I created a log sheet asking for their name, age, and how many books they took. This was an easy way for me to keep track of my project, but also making it fun for kids. The idea of the log came from the ideas of geocaching. In this case, they were getting books as their prizes. When I was younger, my brother and I got really interested in doing geocaching and it was always fun to see who the last poeple were to find it and how long ago they found it. This is something that I wanted to incoperate into my project to add to the fun.

How is your project sustainable? How will it continue to impact after your involvement?

The Rampart Library District, Community Partners of Teller County, and Summit Elementary have committed to sustaining books and filling the library. Every three months, a volunteer from one of these organizations has agreed to check on the library, rotate books, and fill if necessary. The Rampart Library District has agreed to incorporate it into different programs throughout the year such as their summer reading program. Community Partners will promote it through its different programs and resources. Summit Elementary will promote it through their literacy nights, as well as putting a flyer out for homeschoolers. All organizations have agreed to donate books to the library with Rampart Library primarily managing donations.

What did you learn about yourself?

This project pushed me way out of my comfort zone. I had to do some things that I have never been comfortable doing and take on something bigger than ever. I learned that I could do anything that I set my mind to even when things don’t go the way things are planned. Over the time it has taken me to complete this project, I have run into numerous things that have set me back and didn’t nearly go the way they were planned to go. But, that’s the thing about life, things rarely go smoothly or in a straight line. I think this project showed me the kind of leader I can be. I love helping people and making things better. I wanted to be able to inspire people about my passion and I was able to do that.

How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?

Something this project has taught me is how to take lead. We can’t always stand back and wait for someone else to take the lead and tell us what to do. I think one of the hardest parts of these projects was having to do everything on my own. There were a lot of roadblocks that were hit and it was up to me to get past them and enroll others to support. There was no one telling me what to do or how to fix things when they didn’t work out. Basically, I couldn’t have someone help me and hold my hand the entire way. I think this has helped grow my leadership skills immensely. I am no longer intimidated by adults and asking for support. I am okay with leading people that are older than me. For a long time, I have always been used to being told what I am supposed to do and following their leadership. This has helped me become a better leader. I can take this into my future and college. Additionally, this project has helped with my public speaking skills. I am a better public speaker because of the number of times I needed to get in front of people and groups to promote my project.

Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your girl scout experience?

I feel the the Gold Award was a huge key piece in my Girl Scout experience and my leadership skills as a whole. I will tell you it is not an easy task, but when you finally reach the end, you get to say that you made a mark that is huge. I wanted to make a mark on my community and leave something behind to better my community. My Gold Award taught me so much about myself and the world. It taught me that helping others was a huge part of what I valued in my life and I wanted to further that into college and eventually my career.

How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)? 

I became a G.I.R.L. in expanding every one of these skills- one of the biggest things being a go-getter. I learned that if you want something to happen or you want to see change happen, you can’t stand around and wait for it to happen. If you really want something to change you, have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and take the risk. You have to be a go-getter and get what you want. There were a lot of roadblocks that stood in my way from making this project possible, but I learned very quiclky that I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication, and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org. 

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Girl Scout Gold Award candidate builds StoryWalk Trail

Over the past year, Girl Scout Gold Award candidate Avery H. has developed, planned, and constructed a StoryWalk Trail for the Town of Parker. It is permanently installed at McCabe Meadows, a nature trail located just off the Cherry Creek Trail. A StoryWalk Trail is a type of nature trail with signs installed along it, displaying the pages of a children’s book. A story can be read as the trail is walked.

“I pursued this project because it perfectly intertwined my love for both the outdoors and reading while also engaging children in my community. I wanted to be able to help other kids discover the love I have for books and nature,” Avery wrote.

Special thanks to Reporter Jeff Todd of CBS4/KCNC-TV in Denver for sharing  Avery’s story!

 

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The Little Children That Could and their Teachers: Inspiring Children and Adults through my Gold Award

Submitted by Madeline F.

Metro Denver

Englewood

This past month, I was invited to participate in the CCIRA’s (Colorado Chapter of the International Reading Association) annual reading conference. More than 1,500 principals and teachers from all over Colorado came and went throughout this conference to learn how they can impact children’s lives through new reading and writing techniques. Their vision is that all people will be empowered to critically engage in our changing world by developing and utilizing literacy skills throughout life. As an advocate for reading and writing, I was very grateful that I got to share my Gold Award project to help CCIRA spread their message. At this conference, I got to create a display to show my Gold Award, as well as attend different sessions with authors who gave me new ideas to add to my project.

My Gold Award is a hands-on program to help children read more, learn from what they read, and inspire them to use the lessons they learn in their everyday lives. I used interactive games and activities to help children comprehend the book and also increase their love for reading. By showing how characters in books can be role models and by making their own books, I want children to gain confidence and excitement from reading and writing. With the knowledge they learn from this program, they can make an impact in their own communities. During this conference, I got to talk to several teachers, who had the same goal as I did, about this program. I talked with them about implementing my program in their classrooms because I saw an increase in popularity for reading sessions at the Boys and Girls Club. Sharing my display was really inspiring to me because it showed me that there are others with the same passion with whom I could share ideas. It also showed that I can take action in my community and spread a program that will impact a very common problem in our community.

To learn more about my project go to www.thelittlechildrenwhocould.weebly.com.

This event has helped me embrace being a G.I.R.L. Being a go-getter allowed me to talk to teachers about my project and my ideas. As an innovator, I was able to create a Gold Award project that inspired children to read more and use what they read to make a difference. Also, being a risk-taker caused me to come out of my shell and be confident about my project and my passions. Because I am a leader, I took the initiative to create innovative ideas and I shared them with the world so that the issue that I was passionate about can be reduced.

This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too.

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Spare a Book event

Submitted by Meredith Locke

Metro Denver

Lafayette

Come join us for bowling fun with your troop or family! We want everyone to have a good time and bring a book to donate. Literacy is important to all school age kids and should be accessible to them. The books you bring will be given to a local Title 1 school. Kids in these school don’t have as much access to what many other schools in the district have. Without exposure to the same materials, they won’t be quite as prepared to go into middle school and that may transfer to high school and the rest of their lives. With the help of everyone donating picture books and books for kids in second – fifth grades, we’ll be able to impact a few kids’ lives. This simple act of donating a book can help them tremendously. Helping people out is what our troop strives to do and you can help us help these kids advance and grow!

Please join us on March 17, 2019 for a great cause!

Time: 2 – 4 p.m.

Place: Chippers Lanes, 100 Nickel St, Broomfield, CO

Price: $15 per person + $2.50 for a specially designed patch

Please bring a picture book or chapter book for second – fifth graders (one per person)

To register, follow this link: https://bowling-party-event.cheddarup.com

Questions? Contact Meredith at mltlocke@gmail.com.

This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too.

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Gold Award Girl Scout: Madeline Ford, Englewood, “The Little Children Who Could”

What did you do for your Gold Award project?

Most children are uninterested in reading, so they lack the understanding of why reading is important. They do not like reading because they lack support and encouragement to read. Because of this, I created a program at the Boys and Girls Club that is a five-session literacy program to promote a positive reading environment by teaching books with good values and morals and then teaching the children about different authors and poets to show new ways to express themselves. I brought in several volunteers to create a small volunteer to child ratio, so children could get the attention they need to work on their reading skills. I also noticed that they do not like to read because it lacks physical activity, so I made hands-on activities to keep the children engaged and active. Afterwards, I created reading tool boxes that consist of 15 to 20 books and reusable activities that can be used alongside them. Through a book drive, I was able to collect more than 400 books that allowed me to make 22 tool boxes that were passed out to organizations that serve at risk children around Colorado. By encouraging a positive reading environment at an early age, children will develop a lifelong love for learning which will cause a positive impact in their future.

How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience?

I created a survey the children filled out before and after the five-session program to get a sense of how they feel about reading. Overall, there was a 45% increase for the statement “Reading is Important” and an 18% increase for the question “Do I learn new things in my books?” Also, I interviewed the teachers from the Boys and Girls Club and they were very happy on how the program turned out. At that moment was when I felt like my project was coming together. I knew I had made a difference in a child’s life and that they learned ideas that will help them in the future. Seeing these results gave me motivation to write a program manual with all the activities so other children can be impacted as well.

How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement?

The children of Godsman Elementary School brought home several projects that are reminders for the children to embrace themselves and show their best selves and to motivate them to read and write more. My school’s National Honor Society will continue my program using my step by step instruction manual in my school district so over one hundred children each year can experience this program.

I created 22 tool boxes that had 15 to 20 books inside of them with several comprehension activities from my five-session program to understand books better and gain excitement from them. They allow children who were unable to experience my five-session program to be able to try my activities and be inspired by them.

My five-session program and book tool boxes can be accessed on my website: www.thelittlechildrenwhocould.weebly.com

What is your project’s global and/or national connection?

Reading affects children everywhere. There are several reasons why children do not take reading seriously, which is why it is important to look at each reason and find a solution to fix it. I shared my project to several national organizations such as Reach Out and Read, National Honor Society, and the Boys and Girls Club. They can do my program anywhere and affect children around the nation. I put all of the materials and templates on a website that organizations could easily access to make the program successful and efficient.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned to embrace my creativity. Before my project, I was afraid to share my ideas because I believed no one would like them. However, having free reins on this project let me create whatever I wanted to promote reading literacy and I became very open with promoting ideas. I enjoyed bouncing off ideas with other people and receiving constructive criticism because it helped my ideas be more successful. I gained critical thinking skills that allowed me to create new and innovative ideas that made my project more appealing.

How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future?

Working on this project helped increase my self-confidence. While working on this project, I began to branch out more in my community. As a result of this increase, I decided to apply for more leadership positions at my school. I became a board member for National Honor Society and Big Sisters and through these organizations, I am able to promote the values of this project to a bigger audience.  My Gold Award will always remind me that I take action and am able to create a better community.

Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience?

The Gold Award was a perfect way to show my abilities and strengths that I developed through my years in Girl Scouts. Through Girl Scouts, I was able to create a stronger version of myself that pushed me to make my voice heard. Girls in a safe space gain confidence in themselves and they allow others to see their personalities and their abilities and I think that the Gold Award is a perfect way to challenge a girl in that way.  I gained knowledge and skills that will help me accomplish with any of my future endeavors.

How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)?

Earning my Gold Award helped me become an innovator. I had to come up with new ways to keep children engaged and involved while reading and writing.  I talked to several literacy aides and teachers to learn more how children focus and with their help I was able to create an interactive project. I enjoyed bouncing off ideas with other people and receiving constructive criticism because it helped my ideas be more successful.  I gained critical thinking skills that allowed me to create new and innovative ideas that made my project more appealing.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication, and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org. 

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Silver Award project: Free Little Library

For their Silver Award project, Girl Scouts from Troop 14013 Megan T. and Hailey T. in Grand Junction designed, built, and installed a Free Little Library at Lincoln Park. The girls love reading and wanted to share that love with their community. The library was immediately used by children and adults.

Mandy Beilman was at the girls’ event because she has been visiting Free Little Libraries around the country. GSCO asked her a few questions about her personal connection to Free Little Libraries.

When did you get started doing this?

I remember seeing Little Free Libraries in online articles, but never seeing one in person. I saw my first one in the summer of 2016 in Homer, Alaska. My family was there for a deep sea fishing trip and I spotted one with a mermaid on it. I swapped out the book I had brought along for the trip with a new read. After that, I started noticing them more places and being intentional about seeking them out.

Where have you experienced these?

In many places! I’ve visited several in Anchorage, AK, as well as the one in Homer. The farthest east I’ve gone is Topeka, KS. I plan to continue seeking them out whenever I got to a new place. My daughter and I like to take photos of them and I have an album on Facebook. My favorite ones so far are the ones that I find by accident. There’s a bit of magic in finding one and seeing what books it holds!

What is your interest in LFL?

I’m a high school English teacher, so literacy is important to me. I love the idea of giving out free books, it’s a great community service! Plus, I think the libraries are cute; I enjoy seeing all of the different styles. I can’t wait to put one in my front yard.  (As soon as I sign the closing papers on my first home).

What made you come to this one?

I saw the girls putting it together and thought I’d come over and visit! I’ve never been the first patron before, my daughter and I really enjoyed that.  The one the girls designed is beautiful, and it has a perfect location, right next to a park.